Home photography is very popular at least in part because it provides an inexpensive way to make a record of special occasions. Photographs are frequently used to make a record of adult family members and children as they grow. Photographs also proved an easy way to share images of special events and portraits of children with family members who are living far away.
Many department stores such as Costco and Walmart offer a wide variety of photo processing services. It is convenient for a consumer to drop off a print order during a shopping trip to one of these stores. Typically these stores provide an order counter with a number of counter envelopes. The consumer can write their name and address on the envelope and check boxes corresponding to the desired photo processing services. A variety of services are available, including single prints, double prints, images on a disc, images on a CD, images delivered via e-mail and images posted on a website.
When placing an order, the consumer can place an item (e.g. a roll of film, a magnetic floppy disk, a compact optical disk, and the like) in the envelope, tear off a receipt and drop the envelope in a slot located on the order counter. A short time later, the consumer can pick up the prints during another visit to the store. The prints may be provided to the customer in a variety of ways. For example, the prints may be provided as images on photographic paper. By way of a second example, the prints may be provided as digital images saved on a storage media such as a compact optical disk or a magnetic floppy disk.
The printing process typically includes the step of placing the customers images onto photographic paper and/or converting images to digital files. When the images are delivered electronically, they can be posted on a web page or delivered to an e-mail address. The digital files can also be saved on a storage media such as a compact optical disk or a magnetic floppy disk.